Huawei Loses Trade Secrets Case Against US Chip Manufacturer

In yet another blow to Huawei’s worldwide business dealings, a US District Court in Texas ruled against the Chinese tech giant in a case involving allegedly stolen trade secrets. The jury ruled in favour of CNEX Labs, a semiconductor startup based in San Jose, CA.

Huawei had sued CNEX Labs in 2017 for misappropriation of trade secrets regarding a memory control technology and for poaching of its employees. Huawei sought $85 Million in damages but unfortunately, it was not to be. CNEX Labs filed a counter-suit against Huawei and accused them of posing as a customer to steal valuable intellectual property from CNEX. CNEX also alleged that Huawei’s case filing was a part of their scheme to obtain the said information.

The court ruled that Huawei was the one committing misappropriation of trade secrets but did not award any damages to CNEX. The only decision that went Huawei’s way was the court’s finding that one of the CNEX founder’s did, in fact, fail to notify the company of his patent filings.

The person in question here is CNEX co-founder Yiren “Ronnie” Huang , who used to be a Huawei employee. He quit the Chinese company and shortly after, co-found CNEX Labs in 2019. It was alleged that he breached his employment contract which required him to notify the company of any patents he obtained within a year of leaving the firm. Even the court ruled in favor of Huawei, no damages were awarded in this case either. The CNEX counsel said that the case ‘was never about money’ and was a victory for ‘the rule of law and for global standards of ethical corporate behavior’.

This ruling comes as another blow for Huawei, which was recently blacklisted by the US government after it was declared as a threat to national security. Stay tuned for more on Huawei a.k.a the company making all the headlines these days.